Breaking from Tradition: Photoshop CC

If you’ve been a long time Photoshop customer, we’ve established quite a predictable routine.

Every 18 to 24 months we deliver a new version of the software, packed with the latest features and functionality, as well as hundreds of big and small enhancements. It’s been a regularly timed cycle aimed at serving the needs of individuals working on design or photography related projects.

For us, the development process itself is anything but “routine.” The team is continually researching the latest imaging science and then figuring out how to deliver it to you as a new capability that significantly improves your creative process. We look far into the future, apart from what we know to be true today, and aspire to have it all work like magic. You’ve set the bar high to ensure we help you to push hard against existing creative limitations. For that reason alone, we’re never content with the status quo.

Good News – No More WaitingWe simply can’t sit back when the world is changing so rapidly. Waiting 18 to 24 months to catch up isn’t acceptable for any of our customers. We need to respond quickly to meet your evolving needs and to do so, we have to break from the old way of doing things.

This isn’t a new concept for us, or you. With Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), photographers have demanded we generate camera compatibility updates at least 8 times per year, compared with once every two years when we first launched the product in 2003. The number of cameras ACR supports has increased dramatically by 1600%!

In many cases, we also finish some features well before the official release date. Popular features in Photoshop CS6 like Content Aware Move, Content Aware Patch and Background Save were all complete by August, but due to our traditional delivery cycle, we couldn’t get them to you until nine-months later in May.

We’ve decided that Photoshop will no longer be software you have to wait years for. We’re ready to react quickly to external forces and will serve up more new features throughout the year, so you can push your creativity as far as the latest technology will allow. This steady stream of features will give you the opportunity to learn new tricks at your own pace, versus having to wrap your head around all that’s loaded into just one release.

It’s All About Access & a Connected CommunitySocial media, mobile devices and the cloud have radically changed the creative process. The velocity, range and diversity of what is being created is unprecedented. And we want to be right there with you to embrace those possibilities in this connected environment.

Gone are the days of just one lone Photoshop customer and one desktop computer. In this highly connected world, we’re building real-world solutions that bring you, your fellow collaborators and clients together in a truly seamless and meaningful way.

We want you to experience this now, so starting today we’re offering our loyal Photoshop customers (current owners of Photoshop CS3, CS4, CS5 or CS6) a special introductory price of $9.99 per month for an annual commitment to Photoshop CC. This Creative Cloud single-app membership includes everything you would expect to find in the traditional Photoshop Extended software, plus all the new Photoshop CC features, as well as regular updates throughout the year. We’re offering cloud-based services that allow teams to work together with private, secure and collaborative 20 GB storage solutions. We’re encouraging people to share ideas and inspiration with other artists through unique communities like Behance. Photoshop CC includes a Behance ProSite membership where you’ll get your own personal portfolio builder and a URL to showcase your work and gain exposure to a broad and valuable network.

Great innovation happens when you’re focused, and frankly, not afraid to break from tradition. We realize change is hard, but hope you can see that our aim is to innovate quickly, give you access to everything you need and connect you with the right people to enable your best work.

We look forward to collaborating with you as we explore these new possibilities together. Please consult our frequently asked questions post to learn more about Photoshop CC and leave your feedback to help us continue improving Photoshop.

Maria Yap

Maria Yap leads product management and customer engagement for some of Adobe's flagship professional creative products. Maria has driven the strategy and development of Acrobat, InDesign, Creative Suites, Photoshop, Lightroom, Photoshop Elements, Photoshop Touch and Adobe Revel. Before becoming a product manager, Maria founded her own company of designers and production experts. She continues her passion for creativity by working on the yearbook for her children's school and taking lots of family pictures.

the adobe “cloud service” is just a fancy way to hide what this really is… adobes attempt to stop software piracy and get more money! plain and simple, having online validation on any software/game is called DRM and has always been proven problematic, most of the time hurts the legitimate consumers. Remember when PSN got hacked and people couldn’t play their offline games!? Imagine being locked out of your software because some kids decide to DDOS flood adobes validation servers… NO THANKS!

[…] Regular feature updates – Feature updates are made available as soon as they’re ready. No more waiting every 18-24 months for one single, huge upgrade. This makes it possible to deliver features to respond to rapidly changing technology. See “Breaking from Tradition: Photoshop CC.” […]

I am very confused about Adobe & “The Cloud”. I do not use all of Adobe’s products, only PS & Dreamweaver, so I do not fond it profitable for me to subscribe to this yearly product. However, are you saying, that for 9.99 a month I can subscribe to PS Cloud ONLY and get all the benefits such as all PS updates and versions, etc?????…Claire

What’s your e-mail? I just finished chatting with Adobe’s live support and had them reset activation counts for Adobe CS6 Master Collection for both Mac OS & Windows. It can activate on 4 computers genuinely now.

I currently have the full edition of Photoshop CS6 installed and working on my PC. If I were to subscribe to the creative cloud single application membership, and after 12 months I cancel my membership, will I still have the use of my full version of CS6 currently on my PC, or would I lose the use of it when I cancel my subscription.

By Trish - 12:47 PM on May 6, 2013

Good question, and would we still be able to use the PS we have after the year is up, as in with any updates up to the time we cancel?

If you currently own CS6 perpetual, that would continue to work with your perpetual serial number/activation, if you decide to cancel your membership.

By JamesInCA - 3:08 PM on May 6, 2013

Can CS6 open Creative Cloud files, or are the file formats different? Will they be the same a year from now? Do you expect that if you try CC for a year you can just revert effortlessly to the previous version?

If I’m going to pay $600 for a year, then at the end of the year I want to have purchased something. So here’s a suggestion: I’ll sign on the the creative cloud happily, tomorrow, if you introduce this feature: after a year (or even two) of CC membership, you can opt out at any time and the version you have at that moment becomes perpetual.

Do that, and my entire complaint fades away.

By Greg Childers - 12:00 PM on May 16, 2013

I agree with this completly!!! I need to own something if I have to stop paying monthly

I have always been a consumer that likes to have a physical copy of software on hand. The Creative Cloud scares me somewhat, not because of Adobe’s reliability, but, the reliability of the internet connectivity and service. I have had a DSL connection for years for my small business. In the event of an internet connection failure, my studio would be shut down with no access to my Adobe Photoshop tools on a Creative Cloud. Am I correct in thinking so?
In addition, I would think that a busy internet connection would also slow my process down when trying to access tools from the cloud.

You would still have access. You only are “required” to have internet access 1/month. I am a Creative Cloud Subscriber and frequently work on a train in the morning where I barely get mobile reception. It basically tries to check when you open it, and if you have been able to get online with it at all in the last 30 days if it fails there isn’t a problem.

In fact, you can work offline for up to 99 days without having to re-authenticate.

By Ron Robertson - 3:41 PM on May 8, 2013

Barnia Scruggs Photoshop CC does not run in a browser you only have to be connected to the internet to download the programs and validate it. You only have to validate approximately every 30 days or 99 days depending if you signed up for one year or monthly. After your download is installed Photoshop CC works on your computer just like CS6 or CS5 did. Your files can be saved on your computer just as you did with CS6 or CS5. You do get some file storage space(I think 20GB)from Adobe similar to something like Dropbox.

By kaye lawrence - 12:45 PM on May 6, 2013

Seriously. I am tempted to burst into tears. I worked solely on PSE for years and finally got Cs6. I have worked, and continue to work very very hard on my photoshop skills as a photographer.I have an envelope for saving for the next upgrade. I am in my 50’s with married tax returns under $40K.
Will Photoshop no longer be for sale? Am I going to lose access to future upgrades?
does the subscription discount of $9.99 expire after a year?
…And okay, maybe this is a dumb question, but with the cloud…what is on your computer, and what is housed solely online? One doesn’t have to be online to work in photoshop does one?

By Trish - 12:49 PM on May 6, 2013

Great questions, Kaye! I’d like to know the answers to these questions also!

All of the software products reside on your local computer. You install them via a web installer similar to Acrobat Reader. I am sure it would be horrendous downloading the full suite over a slow connection. You can do one app at a time though which might help chunk it out to something more manageable.

The stuff that is “in the cloud” includes storage for files similar to using SkyDrive or Dropbox, and some of the collaboration services.

John

By kdjdje - 1:37 PM on May 6, 2013

and of course customers outside the USA will have to pay 3x times the money!!!

FUKY

By Mike - 12:46 PM on May 6, 2013

So what happens to lifetime PS users like myself whose studios are in the middle of nowhere and have to struggle with barely half meg lines!

By kaye lawrence - 2:10 PM on May 6, 2013

It appears that PS cloud works like a trial. Download, pay. If you cease to pay the software locks up.

By JamesInCA - 3:04 PM on May 6, 2013

That is correct.

By kaye lawrence - 12:47 PM on May 6, 2013

AND please tell me Lightroom will continue as a for sale product!

By Clean - 1:56 PM on May 6, 2013

If Adobe is successful in their cloud initiative then expect them to put all their future products in the cloud.

Why’s Adobe now making the move for the Cloud? Does that mean Creative Suite will be gone for good? I’ve been a loyal Adobe customer since Creative Suite 2 came out and would be crushed if they pursue that route.

Didn’t Adobe mention in an article sometime ago that release cycles for CS6.5 & CS7 products will be in ODD and EVEN years? Whatever happened to that???

Will my Adobe registered serial numbers be affected or be gone for good as well?

Hopefully CS6.5 will be released this year.

P.S.: Governments own the Cloud. Files stored are in THEIR hands.

By Brian Kilburn - 11:34 PM on May 6, 2013

Adobe is doing this (like every other company that is going to “the cloud”) simply because they can make more money by charging everyone a monthly subscription fee rather than a one time purchase price especially since not every user buys each new update.
“The Cloud” = cash cow

By Victoria - 8:44 PM on May 7, 2013

You are absolutely Right! I love how they try to make it sound like such a great deal for us! Everyone knows it’s easier for them to line their pockets this way.

By Lynn - 8:56 AM on May 9, 2013

I, too, am a little, no a LOT, upset by this change to “THE CLOUD”! I am a novice user who is in her 50s and loves playing with pictures and such. I have CS3 and was looking to upgrade but I’m not sure if this new version is even what I should have. I’m NOT a professional, just a novice who did spend quite a lot of money for the previous versions happily. I’m very skeptical about this new version.

Someone mentioned “cash cow”, well, if they only want professionals to purchase their products, then go for the gold! I’m one of many who can’t and don’t use Photoshop to its fullest potential. Give us an option please!

This idea HAD to have been thought up by a committee of monkeys. Or better yet, by congress. What the hell? Was anyone at Adobe thinking? But, I guess that even when they lose half their customer base they will still make more money because they are ripping off even more……for nothing! License, schmiscence. It’s a product. This license bull**** was thought up by a bunch of what else…lawyers. I’ll have be sure my LR4 and CS5 programs are safely stored away, cause ther;s no more comin’

So you don’t need my money, its fine. This cloud sh*t is another stupid measure against illegal copies, BUT it dosen’t work and you know it. The reason is nobody will connect to the internet for using Photoshop. It is the truth, everyone knows it, and you will pay for it.

Sorry for the truth.

By Ryback - 1:47 PM on May 6, 2013

Piracy hit Adobe really hard. They lost millions of dollars and revenues because of it.

The Cloud is their NEW way to combat software piracy.

By Clean - 1:52 PM on May 6, 2013

As long as the software sits mostly on client side hard drives these pirates will find a way.

By JamesInCA - 2:13 PM on May 6, 2013

They only “lost” millions of dollars if the people who pirated the software were otherwise willing and able to purchase it. That’s a big assumption.

By Alexandrw - 12:26 AM on May 29, 2013

If the price was right from the very beginning, almost everyone would buy their software and their sales would be way higher than now.

Put it like this:

If you sell a product at a $1000 price 100 out of 1000 people would buy it and your profit will be $100,000. Now, if you sell it at a $400 price, almost 600 out of 1000 would buy it and you would get $240,000 and so on… Think about this.

Even now, if they place a $9.99/month stable price per product without any changes it would have been better, but GREED is the Creed of all corporations that have established a monopoly.

Shame on you Adobe… shame.

If you don’t come to your senses, i will choose and alternative for your software period.

By Clean - 1:53 PM on May 6, 2013

Agreed! This is the classic, punish everyone because of a few bad apples- line of thinking.

By Alexis - 1:26 PM on May 6, 2013

I am wondering will we be able to use our Photoshop offline? I suppose this change in how Photoshop works is also great way to deal with piracy, and while I am usually against cloud-only-based services (look what happened in EA with SimCity) I am trustful in Adobe’s reliability based on their excellence in the past. However, I don’t trust in my internet connection that much, nor am I working only when I’m home. I’d like to have access to these new features on my laptop even when I’m abroad.

Question 2: Are you building a version for macs and will it be released in Summer too?

Queston 3: What about new users? Will they just need to pay subscription, or buy some (offline-working) software before that?

By Sol Fried - 7:29 AM on May 7, 2013

With an annual subscription, you need to be online for a few seconds once every 90 days. With a monthly plan, it is once very month.

I will never pay monthly fees to use your software. Bye Bye Photoshop.

By Phil Drinkwater - 1:40 PM on May 6, 2013

Everyone I’ve spoken to hates this. I think you should have done some customer research before announcing this.

When companies exploit their dominance of the market, they usually kill themselves off. I hope you backtrack before this happens to you. As for me, you’ve just lost me a customer. I used to upgrade every second version. Now I won’t upgrade any more. And when I can’t use cs any more ill move over to an alternative.

Ill also start looking for an alternative to Lightroom since I suspect you’ll go the same way.

When games like Diablo 3 did this it was extremely annoying but bearable because it was not a necessity for work. Photoshop is a very important part of our workflow so this sucks huge balls as a freelance designer. This is an opportunity for smaller software developers to offer an alternative to Photoshop!

This subscription based software favors the big companies too much!

By Pete Green - 4:16 PM on May 6, 2013

Diablo 3 required an always online model. That is not what we are doing with the Creative Cloud. Once activated (meaning you only need to get online this one time) you are free to work offline as needed.
For month-to-month subscribers, you’ll need to get online within 37 days. For annual subscribers you have up to 99 days.

Upgrading Adobe ACR is not a reason to go on-line only. There are many excellent RAW converters are on the market.

People like myself will look upon this move as corporate greed justified based on false assumptions.

Many upgrades of Photoshop namely CS6 does not worth the upgrades, many pro-s does not even bother to upgrade version to version. Adobe tried to change the upgrade policy in the past requiring upgrade eligibility from the latest version only to maximize revenue. It did not work as the new model will not work either. They hoped for more people signing up for the Cloud, but it did not happen. Based on their monopoly of the market now they force the only choice on us. I like choices.. I would be happy to buy any replacement for my Adobe products. Apple are you reading this?

Greetings,
I am a professional photographer, I have been using Adobe products since 1996. I’m OK with subscription based service for $10-$20 a month, that’s the same as upgrading from one version to the other every two years or so.

BUT, I am not OK with my files locked down in the cloud. My PSD/TIFF files are my work of art and my intellectual property. I want to retain 100% ownership and I want them to be on my local machine only. If this changes I will not use Adobe products anymore.

I hope product development team understand the significance of full content ownership and accessibility by the artist.

By Geoff Walker - 2:09 PM on May 6, 2013

Ari, your files are always on your computer and applications are as well.

People really need to ignore the “cloud” part of the “Creative Cloud” title. Unless your uploading your files somewhere, they are always on your computer. Nothing has ever been said otherwise.

By Ryback - 3:49 PM on May 6, 2013

Adobe should’ve re-named Creative Cloud as “Credit Card.”

They collect and eat money.

By tom - 1:57 PM on May 6, 2013

this is an absolute joke. The fact that you only have to verify your license one time per month means that the software is already on your computer. so if Adobe is giving you all the latest features from the cloUd, then they could just as easily do that with software updates. The only reason Adobe is doing this is to stop piracy.

By JamesInCA - 2:16 PM on May 6, 2013

Tom, it’s not just to stop piracy. With the old perpetual licenses, the software kept working after you paid for it, and you decided when or if you’d pay again for a new version.

With the subscription model, the software stops working when you stop paying. So even if the apparent prices are “about the same,” it’s really a significant degradation of the value you’re getting for what you pay.

By uhane - 6:07 PM on May 7, 2013

Ahh Capitalism at it’s most predatory! The golden years!! How sweet and nostalgic. Yes. Apparently Adobe has reached back into history and updated the feudal system of exchange of goods! How clever they must think themselves. Now we not only loose ownership of the means of production but we also now much continue to pay tribute to the lord of the castle or king to grow our creative output or loose access to the creative environment. It is a good thing there are other work environments to move to and that we are not yet considered “property of the lord” or “king”, still mobile. If a company needs to use as many reassuring adjectives, pretzel logic and fuzzy math in a news release as here, on the adobe site and on the sites of it’s acolades there is something to be wary about. Great deal, yea, for adobe = raw deal for full license holders. Have we learned nothing from history! I have posted extensively about this when adobe first made updates available to cloud people and back then it was stated there just a matter waiting for the new version. And when the cloud first came out there was no mention of preferencial treatment. Imagine how demoralizing it feels to have the story keep changing!

Tom
You can’t possibly be that nieve. It’s their way of grabbing more money from their former loyal customer base. There will be new better companies along shortly. I’ll keep my Photoshop CS 5. Works fine and does what I need. This whole software ripoff oops sorry upgrading BS is for the birds. Get you head out of the cloud!

We in the creative fields have lost our freedom of choice. It has been apparent for a few years that this day was coming. Now that is has arrived, let me express my outrage.

The idea of leasing software doesn’t benefit those of us who use Adobe products; it benefits Adobe. No matter what sophistry those in marketing may employ, the change reflects corporate arrogance and greed.

Some of us, possibly a majority, are much better off owning software and upgrading as necessary. Consider an analogy: You buy a car but can’t use it unless you pay a fee for the key.

No doubt Adobe’s management will ignore any opinion other than its own and, unless another company provides a viable alternative, Adobe will blackmail its customers until we finally acquiesce and stop griping.

Think about it, folks. Each of you has just become a victim.

By Niel Stewart - 1:57 PM on May 6, 2013

Oh dear.

I can see why you’ve done it. But I think it’s a mistake…..and I suspect your competition will be holding some marketing meetings to capitalise on your decision.

Personally I’ve used lightroom since v1.0. I’ll be disappointed but if you go the same way with LR I’ll have to test out apple aperture and suss out an alternative to photoshop.

I suspect your revenues will be hit as you’ll make more from those that stay but many will leave.

End of an era for me. Tomorrow will start looking at alternatives.

Lightroom 1,2,3 and 4

Photoshop 3, 5.1, 6.

By Pete Green - 4:18 PM on May 6, 2013

Lightroom will continue to be offered as a physical boxed copy in stores

By Jay - 2:00 PM on May 6, 2013

Horrible idea! I can’t believe I’m being told that if I want the latest and greatest software, I now have to pay a monthly subscription fee when I used to just buy a license and own the software. Sounds like a money grab to me too, one where you’re trying to convince me a bad deal is actually good for me.

Guess I’ll learn to be happy with the photoshop cs6/lightroom tandem. Hopefully adobe won’t make the same damn mistake and make lightroom 5 cloud only also.

By Red - 2:11 PM on May 6, 2013

This is a terrible idea. I understand piracy and how it hurts every company’s bottom line but this is an extreme step. I can see ACR 8 being the last update compatible with CS6, in effect forcing us all into the “cloud” within the next year.

Strong arming your customers into your anti-piracy solution is not a good idea, there are other raw converters and other pixel editors and I can see them getting quite a bit more support in the near future if Adobe goes through with this. I’ve purchased every version since CS3 but CS6 will be the last.

People should speak with their wallets, those are the only voices that will be heard….

” there are other raw converters and other pixel editors and I can see them getting quite a bit more support in the near future ”

yeah – alot of support from people who dont want to pay for software !!!!

By Red - 6:34 PM on May 6, 2013

You’re certainly entitled to your opinion no matter how misinformed it might be.

Have fun with your lifetime Adobe subscription….

By Dave S - 6:43 AM on May 8, 2013

As someone who has purchased two versions of the creative suite and one upgrade, and multiple licenses for workplaces, and been a user since 1995, I think you may be very wrong with that comment. The problem is that people who want to pay for the software will no longer be able to. The costs for small businesses with limited turnover who would not traditionally upgrade their bitmap editing software ever 24 months is exponentially larger for the amount of time that they would want to stay in business. Furthermore, not having access to your own work if you should choose to stop using the Creative Cloud will be a major reason why many businesses will not choose it. Finally, being subscription based, the Creative Cloud would not be suitable for any new businesses receiving start-up grants from outside agencies. Can you now see a little more of the larger picture?

By Pete Green - 4:05 PM on May 6, 2013

You will still continue to have access to work with DNG files if you need any sort of forward/backward compatibility of raw files..

Thank you Adobe for saving me money – now I don’t have to debate whether upgrading to the next version of PS is worth it. I’ll stay with CS6 until a competitor releases a better product at a reasonable price. Not using CC at those prices is a no-brainer for most of us non-professional photographers.

By Mark - 2:33 PM on May 6, 2013

Absolutely disgusted by this move. I bought new copies of Adobe software about once every three-five years, and would have been due for an upgrade to CS7. Now I have to fork over $600/year for eternity, or lose access to everything I’ve been paying for. Disgraceful.

You won’t lose everything you’ve already paid for, just moving forward. You can always fall back to what you own now. And if you have CS6, you can get the complete collection for only $240 for the first year, at $19.95 a month.

By JamesInCA - 2:47 PM on May 6, 2013

Those who *aren’t* existing owners *will* lose all they’ve been paying for under the new model. Under the old model, the money they spent on the product bought them something they could use after they finished paying for it. Not in the new model.

By Mark - 2:56 PM on May 6, 2013

“What I have now” is CS4, which is rapidly becoming out-of-date.

So yeah, I can fall back to what I have now, but if five years from now I decide I no longer want to fork over $50/mnth for CC (maybe I have kids, or a mortgage and can’t afford the continued expense, or I simply don’t spend enough time creating content to justify the expense) I have two choices:

1: Fall back to ten-year-old software that probably won’t even run on Windows 10 or whatever the current OS would be.
2: Abandon Adobe software completely

Either way, I have absolutely nothing to show for the *three thousand dollars* I would have paid in those five years.

That would be no different than spending five/ten/fifteen/twenty years making monthly payments on a car (or a house, or furniture, or whatever), and as soon as I stop paying, I lose that which I was making payments on. Sure, it got me from A to B at the time, but the fact remains that as soon as I stop paying whatever the dealer feels is the appropriate fee, I lose access to the thing I just spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on. It’s not financing, it’s not a mortgage, not anything with a final goal. I will never be able to stop paying and keep whatever I’ve accumulated thus far. It’s a perpetual, never-ending lease.

This is *completely* unacceptable.

By Mark - 3:07 PM on May 6, 2013

It gets even worse for those people using a single program. My interest is in photography, and Lightroom is the only software I update regularly. And upgrade package for Lightroom is $80, on a yearly release. At even the $20/month single-app CC subscription, Adobe has just *tripled* the yearly cost for keeping Lightroom up-to-date.

By Pete Green - 4:08 PM on May 6, 2013

Lightroom’s pricing model hasn’t changed. You can still upgrade to the next version when it is released.

By Mark - 7:54 PM on May 6, 2013

*For now.* Dollars to donuts says Lightroom 5 is the last retail version, and then it jumps to CC along with everything else.

Actually, yesterday I was completely opposed to the Creative Cloud, but with the new pricing, I think I’ll bite. Since I own CS6, It will only cost $40 more for the first year to get the complete Creative Cloud vs paying $10 a month for Photoshop CC and $79 to upgrade Lightroom to 5. After the first year, hopefully Adobe will have a Photoshop/Lightroom bundle. If not, I can pay $79 to upgrade to Lightroom 6, and pay $20 a month for Photoshop. If somehow the complete collection proves to be worth it, I’ll pay the $49 a month.

By JamesInCA - 2:52 PM on May 6, 2013

After the first year, your Lightroom 5 will cease to work if you change your mind.

After the first year, your Photoshop CC will likewise cease working if you decide $20-$50/month isn’t worth it.

After the first year, you may or may not have the option to upgrade to Lightroom 6 for $79.

If you don’t currently need the upgrade to Photoshop CC, you could just upgrade your Lightroom at $79, keep the rest of the money in your pocket, and see what happens with this.

By JamesInCA - 2:53 PM on May 6, 2013

Your CC-based Lightroom 5 will cease to work if you stop paying, that is.

Whereas if you just buy the upgrade, it will continue working indefinitely.

I have been a CC subscriber since day one, and I love it. I didn’t had an investment in a Adobe CS suite, only in Lightroom, but in Denmark a CS Master Suite cost around $4500, while a year subscription cost $950. So in my opinion, the Creative Cloud is a very affordable way to stay licensed and keep updated.

So in five years, you will have paid more than what the software package was worth. But as soon as you stop making that monthly payment, boom. All gone.

And that assumes you even got your money’s worth out of the software. Do you *really* use every piece of software in the Master Collection? I’d be willing to bet that you don’t and could get away with the Design Standard package for half that price.

So in 2.5 years, you would have paid the retail cost for the package, and have nothing to show for it the minute you stop paying that monthly fee.

The *only* people this system actually benefits (other than Adobe, of course) are the minority who are on the yearly cycle buying every version update that gets released, year after year.

Those of us (likely most of us) on a 2,3,5-year update cycle get the shaft.

By Bennie - 2:58 PM on May 6, 2013

So if you currently own Photoshop CS6, are you saying you have to subscribe to this crap just to get updates? I’ll never ‘Rent’ software. Adobe, I guess you really didn’t do your homework on this one. I guess I’ll be using my older versions of Photoshop.

By Pete Green - 4:11 PM on May 6, 2013

Yes, new features beyond what CS6 has already available will only be available via the Creative Cloud Photoshop, Photoshop CC. You will still be able to use your Photoshop Cs6 (and the features it had when acquired) that you paid for however.

By r_kelly - 9:07 PM on May 6, 2013

After reading everything i could find on the creative cloud and photoshop, i’m still not clear about this.

Will there and will there not be a paid perpetual license in the future for photoshop that includes the new cc features?

What i’m asking is whether photoshop cs6 is the last version that perpetual license users can buy or will there be a future version for perpetual license holders?

I am a long time paying customer of Photoshop and also own a number of other software programs from Adobe. I pay to upgrade. I am happy with that arrangement but to have to pay a monthly fee doesn’t sit well with me. When purchasing Photoshop (its not cheap) I expect to own it not have use of it if I pay a monthly fee. Are you saying that you will no longer be upgrading unless you use the cloud? Are you going to a fee based monthly usage system for everyone or will some of us that prefer to physically own a copy can do so? I found this blurb confusing.

By JamesInCA - 3:19 PM on May 6, 2013

You aren’t confused – that is exactly what they are saying.

Future updates to the Creative Suite products are to be delivered only on a subscription basis.

By JayEm Photography - 3:31 PM on May 6, 2013

I can see why a company like Adobe takes this step, that doesn’t mean that I agree with this decision.

If I need a tool like e.g. a RED maybe only 3 times a year, it makes no sense to buy one, renting one is the way to go in this case… but Lightroom and Photoshop are tools I use every day (for video I use FinalCut… sorry) and I still prefer to own the tools I use on a daily basis, not to “rent” them. And… I want to make the decision if the additional features that come with an update make sense for me, for my workflow (e.g. I updated from CS5 to CS6 and skipped CS 5.5)…

Besides of Lightroom I already use Capture One because the results from my Phase One files are a little bit better… no problem to adjust all my RAW files in Capture One in the future. For the skin retouching and the adjustment layers (most of the times curves, curves and curves) and masks… there are some alternatives to Photoshop… and I think (hope) the competitors will wake up after this announcement and improve their software.

Forcing me into the Creative Cloud doesn’t work. I guess CS6 was my final investment in Adobe. And maybe I should cancel my upcoming Lightroom workshops and start teaching Capture One instead… The early bird catches the worm…

And by the way, I’m not defined as a “professional” because I use some special piece of software, I think I’m called a “professional” because I make a living from shooting stills and video and doing some teaching in this field…

Bravo…. if forced to the cloud I won’t be updating and I will be looking for alternative software. Some people choose to lease a car. Some choose to own it outright. But you are given a choice. Who at Adobe thought people enjoy having choices taken away? Knowing that a friend pays $50 a month for Adobe Cloud that fee sited is to lull you in, hope you can’t live without it and raise it 5 times the amount after a year and we will feel ‘good’ about it?

I rarely post or get riled up on issues but I think I am smokin’ hot on this one and that is an understatement.

This is about corporate greed, regulating a revenue stream and Wall St. valuations.

Most customers skipped versions for upgrades. Not a big deal since there’s rarely anything that exciting in the new versions.

Now we’ll all be forced to buy every upgrade … and we’ll be beta testers!

Remember when Micro$oft forced everyone to upgrade Office by changing the filetype from .doc to .docx?

Anyone want to guess how long it will be before there’s a .psdx or a .aix that only works with Creative Cloud subscribers? Six months? A year?

Good news for Mac users though. Pixelmator at $15 has a similar toolset to Photoshop, Aperture ($79) is better than Lightroom, Coda ($99) puts Dreamweaver to shame, and Artboard ($29) is a pretty solid replacement for Illustrator. Plus, except for Aperture, these are all from smaller developers, not a bloated corporate nightmare.

Bye, Adobe. I used to think you were so special. But you got ugly in your old age.

By Victoria - 8:54 PM on May 7, 2013

What is a good alternative to Photoshop?

By Peter Parker - 10:40 PM on May 14, 2013

CorelDraw; Autodesk Maya; 3D Studio Max; and etc. …

By Bill Mueller - 4:19 PM on May 6, 2013

The pricing isn’t even close. We were paying $200 about every 18 months to upgrade Photoshop. That’s about $11.11 a month. At $19.99 a month, that’s an 80% increase after the first year, previous owner, discount runs out. That’s just ridiculous.

By JamesInCA - 4:33 PM on May 6, 2013

Yes – the cost is higher, and the value is degraded, as it stops working when you stop paying.

I’m a professional who loves PS and LR….some might even call me a LR evangelist. ….so this is coming from one of your biggest fans, not the average lurking internet hater. So believe me when I say, I think you guys are making a big mistake. If you wanted to increase the price, go for it, but don’t make me be a member of something, and don’t force my hand when I’ve been a loyal paying customer all these years. If I need to work on an offshore rig in Africa for 6 months, my computer can not check in to make sure my cloud stuff is up to date. I need to be able to buy it and use it – anywhere, without your interference.

I have 1000 high level professional photographer friends on FB and have not seen one positive comment about this. Everyone is unhappy.

Raise the price (if you must) we know the software is awesome, and we all have to have it but please, let us use our software normally (or give people a choice?), and don’t micromanage us in this draconian way. I think people object to that more than an increase in price.

By Bud - 11:58 PM on May 6, 2013

I agree with most of what you. say The software is awesome and I love it, but come on… The price did not, or does not need raising. Haven’t you considered the prices to be high enough at over half a grand?

By Lee - 4:52 PM on May 6, 2013

My suggestions for fixing this:

Offer the subscription on an annual basis at a decreased price if all paid up front. Lots of people hate monthly bills and like discounts. Say, $20/month becomes $200/year or so.

Allow all the desktop applications to continue to work in perpetuity if the subscription runs out – only the cloud services and updates stop. Keep the stored cloud files around for 180 days before deletion. This is similar to the way software maintenance contracts work, but with cloud services.

If someone drops and then re-ups later, allow full updates. If they are paying monthly, make them either pay for a full-year up front (at the discounted price) for this benefit, or make them pay no more than half the time they missed up to a maximum of 6 months.

By Allan - 7:06 PM on May 6, 2013

Great suggestion. The really BIG issue I see with subscription (renting) model is that if a user stops paying for whatever reason, which does happen, the software stops! Users should be given the choice of continuing to use the software at that locked in release, and will not get the benefit of updates and cloud services. It looks like 2.5-3 years in monthly payments is the equivalent term that matches an upfront purchase. To be fair, perhaps users who cancel prior to a 3 year term should pay the difference in order to allow the continued use of their software. There should be reasonable pricing options to reinstate the subscription plan at a later date.

By studio1551 - 5:15 PM on May 6, 2013

How many manchines will the subscription cover? Will we have to have a subscription to every machine?

I read elsewhere that its PER USER fee. My husband does a magazine and uses Indesign. I use Photoshop and Lightroom – every once in a blue moon I use Premiere. After this special deal of $10 a month for each of us it would go to 50 dollars for each of us. That’s 1200 dollars a year for the use of 3 programs.

By Allan - 7:09 PM on May 6, 2013

With 1 subscription plan, you have the option to install on 2 computers (2 users).

By Dale - 5:31 PM on May 6, 2013

Not a fan of this move Adobe, I’ve had photoshop and lightroom for years. i don’t need nor will use the other programs. This is pretty insulting to your customers. It’s already silly to pay $299 a year to upgrade CS6 for a few new cloning features, BUT AT LEAST WE RETAIN THAT OPTION. We could always skip a year or two if things were tight. Now we are forced to pay $600 a year no matter what? The more you work to isolate your programs, the more likely people will pirate them. Have you learned nothing from all the success of lightroom? or all of your bumblings with Flash? You are starting to behave more and more like EA or HBO. Please re-think this whole thing and offer a reasonable alternative.

By Michelle - 6:33 PM on May 6, 2013

Horrible idea! I can’t believe I can never own Photoshop again. This is going to cost me so much more money. I just bought CS6 and now I have to start paying a monthly fee to get updates? I hope all the negative comments Adobe is receiving causes them to rethink this. I’ve been a Photoshop user since 1995 and am just starting out in my Photography business. Adobe is all I know. This is really going to hurt me I can’t afford $20 a month for a subscription this early in my business.

By Ryback - 6:49 PM on May 6, 2013

The NEW, Adobe “C”rappy “C”loud…

“We keep copies of your files and disclose personal information to people who need it most.”

BOO HISS…..big time. 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 I am a die-hard PSE user, family photographer and am SAVING to buy CS6. This feels so greedy and controlling. I’m about to cry. Seriously. I will NOT buy the subscription. Way too much control for the corporation….and I live in the boonies. 🙁 🙁 🙁

By Hector - 7:01 PM on May 6, 2013

I don’t trust the clouds and I’ll will not chain my self on monthly DEBT, sorry Adobe but I don’t buy it, I rather to wait 2 year for my owned next version.

[…] Maybe this is in Avids future for ProTools? Adobe announce move to subscription based license for ALL […]

By Kerey - 8:28 PM on May 6, 2013

The cost of entry for me, a potentially new PS user hoping to upgrade every other version, appears to have jumped dramatically:
– CS Route: Purchase new (~US$600) and use for ~36 months, then upgrade (~US$200) and use for ~36 months = US$800 over 6 years, or $11.11/mo.
– CC Route: Purchase PS as a standalone app ($20/mo) for 6 years, with ‘continuous’ upgrades = US$1440 over 6 years, or $20/mo.

This 80% price hike (under this scenario) appears to couple a minor benefit (more frequent updates) with a massive and fatal downside: the forced leasing of a creative tool. If, at the end of that 6-year period, I were to cancel my subscription, I would have nothing to show for it. No software. Art (files) I can no longer open. By continuing on and creating more psd files, I’d essentially be sealing my own fate. Well played, Adobe.

In some ways, this change is akin to Ford or Nikon suddenly prohibiting customers from purchasing their vehicles or cameras/lenses outright. Forcing users to lease (and only lease) their car or rent (and only rent) their camera gear sounds ridiculous. Yet this is essentially the situation being forced upon existing and future PS users.

This may prove to be a positive change from a revenue standpoint. But based on the 750+ comments (and climbing) from photographers on dpreview.com as well as here, it has the makings of a PR disaster.

ADOBE!!! Are you kidding?? This cloud garbage is ridiculous! I will NOT pay a monthly fee for your software, I don’t care how good it is. I have been an Adobe customer since Photoshop 5.5. I would rather use GIMP than go along with this snakeoil concept. I teach Photoshop and Lightroom to dozens of photographers a year but will cease to do so if you pursue this path. THIS IS TERRIBLE PR PEOPLE. We have paid thousands of dollars over the years to upgrade and buy your new products and this is what we get for loyalty?? A kick in the teeth?? Why should long time users be subjected to this abuse. I PROTEST MOST VEHEMENTLY!!! I will rant over the net like a trumpet on this in all professional venues I am a member of. You gut us, we gut you Adobe. Wake up call here.

By Dani Staeger - 10:24 PM on May 7, 2013

+1

By Stacey - 9:05 PM on May 6, 2013

I have been using Photoshop for 15+ years and am truly disappointed in this decision I will NOT purchase a subscription and feel that you will lose a large amount of your customer base. I hope that you realize what a mistake this is and that you should offer both products. As a small business owner this is not cost effective.

By Dave - 10:53 PM on May 6, 2013

You can count me in as one of the customers that will be looking elsewhere for my editing needs. I’m a photographer and my images will be staying on my machine. I have no intention of renting software.

By Dave - 11:44 PM on May 6, 2013

It’s not just the cloud issue. What about all the additional software purchased that works with Photoshop now e.g. Perfect photo Suite, numerous plugins, Portrait Professional, Imagenomics Portraiture, etc

By Bud - 11:49 PM on May 6, 2013

Good point Dave! The cloud issue is enough to turn me away, but these are very crucial considerations.

By Bud - 11:47 PM on May 6, 2013

Not Happy With Cloud!

It is sad that the photo editing software company with the best product has made the worst possible decision that will make me switch to other software options. This might be the best thing you could possibly do for Corel & others.

I refuse to rent software so. To go solely to the cloud based product without offering a purchased option is a horrible and stupid decision for Adobe. I can only hope you lose enough people to make you realize it and bring back purchased software.

Also, a comment to the people who are complaining that CS3/CS4 are becoming out of date. That is simply not true. If you are capable designer you will rarely need additional features. Sure, you could create Mona Lisa in MS Paint, but this is simply not the case since CS3/CS4 are quite powerful tools.

btw.
Bad move on Adobe’s part. Its like seeing this company deliberately trying to fail.

By Asbjørn - 12:51 AM on May 7, 2013

Adobe’s greed is rearing its ugly face again, I see. Don’t give me that bullshit about “customer demand” and “delivering updates faster”. This is – and always has been – about extorting your customers. When you discovered that people weren’t stupid enough to jump on the bandwagon by themselves, you decided you had to force them – and this is the result.
As many others have stated, is is simply unacceptable to pay $965 a year (and yes, that is what it costs here in Denmark, so please drop that $50 a month nonsense) and then have nothing, if you should cancel. The obvious solution would be that, were a subscription to be canceled, the software will be frozen at whatever version you have at that time, and of course any cloud services would stop working. But, you would still have the software you already paid for.
I WILL NOT use Creative Cloud until there is a clear exit strategy – do you really expect me to tie to pay $965 a year for the rest of my life? That will be 50+ years, I hope – or about $48,297 right into Adobe’s pockets – just to keep using software I have paid for many times over!! No thanks!
I (and many others) have posted this question over and over since Creative Cloud launched – and we have never gotten a reply. I actually like the idea of Creative Cloud – though the pricing outside the US is crazy – but I am not prepared to commit to a lifetime subscription. Have a way of keeping my software, and I am sure you wouldn’t get so much anger.
That being said, I still think this move is poor. Why not give people the choice – as indeed was originally announced only a year ago?

[…] Maybe this is in Avids future for ProTools? Adobe announce move to subscription based license for ALL […]

By Eric - 3:20 AM on May 7, 2013

This really sucks!!!! I don’t like to rent my software. I wil be very expensive en you don’t have any control over wich version you like to run. Dissions are made by OUR company. Not by Adobe. Many of the adobe software updates outrun the practical use. the further the software develops, the smaller the part I use. We as a company cannot depent on this kind of service. Once you are in, there’s no way out. They can raise the monthly fee as the suit and make you pay for fatures you will probably never use. Adobe got arrogant. As history shows this wil be punished.

By Bob - 4:25 AM on May 7, 2013

$9.99/mo introductory price? I’d almost be ok with that if it was perpetual like the software I’m being forced off.

Adobe as much as you think this is a good idea, clearly it’s not all that. You sound like the guys over at microsoft when they introduced Win 8 – You don’t want that comfortable and familiar win 7 – just this new stuff that WE want you to have. And you you will like it or else.

By John Maguire - 6:39 AM on May 7, 2013

Well, I won’t be upgrading. I just can’t afford the subscription fee. I’ll be laughing at the people that do when some pimple faced 13 year old hacks the cloud and screws it up for the people using it

Adobe is definitely not thinking this through. I know several photography studios, “one a major chain,” that is already searching out alternatives to CS6

FYI, one of Adobe’s senior executives is on Twitter, if anyone wants to help the company understand that “all of our customers are thrilled by this new plan” is a misapprehension on their part.

@bradrencher
Senior Vice President at Adobe

By Dani Staeger - 7:01 AM on May 7, 2013

I’ve benn using Photoshop since Version 5 and hat several master and design suites running in my shop. But since about one year, when we found out what “support” means these days for Adobe and the upcoming cloud versions with new features I really felt let down by Adobe. Enterprise support? Zero. I paid thousands of dollars in advance (and here in Switzerland prices for IDENTICAL english versions are 70% higher) with every release and for this expect service that deserves it’s name and new fetures before other users. A few months ago we started throwing everything out that can be replaced. Goodbye Premiere, hello Smoke, goodbye Dreamweaver, hello Eclipes and several other development tools. The only thing that will stay is Photoshop, and even there I’m not sure if we will use a cloud subscription.
Interesting that the Adobe country representatives contacted us; maybe when they realized how many licences we had. But my strategy has changed and I have no strong negative feeling against Adobe, they simply don’t exist any longer in my plans. Barking didn’t help, so we act with our wallet.

I’ll be sticking at CS6 until they drop this stupid charge-you-more-for-what-you-don’t-want idea. Lightroom does most of what I need but if that goes the same way my money goes away from Adobe. What a stupid idea and great way to alienate their customers..

By Brian - 7:06 AM on May 7, 2013

Most people upgraded every few cycles. This pricing basically forces you to pay every month, every year. So no, it’s not a fair pricing strategy. This may double or triple the cost for the non-commercial user. How does Adobe justify losing this chunk of their client base who isn’t going to pay these type of prices for a monthly fee vs. the choice of paying their monthly electric bill?

By Robert Buck - 7:10 AM on May 7, 2013

I was a loyal Adobe customer. I faithfully update my version Photoshop. I will no longer use Adobe products.

I’m not interested in renting Photoshop or any other software. I’ve owned Photoshop since v4 and I currently own and use CS6 but this looks like it will be my last version. I am not interested in Creative Cloud; I don’t need Adobe to provide me with 20Gb storage, downloads from my home/office are reasonably slow and it would take me days to upload 20Gb. Not all of us have high-speed access to the internet. I frequently use CS6 on the road away from an internet connection. I’m sure that the cloud is going to work really well in that situation. Finally if I decide never to pay Adobe another penny then CS6 will keep working. That is not the case for CC. I am not interested in moving to a model where I have to keep paying Adobe to use software. I don’t rent my car, my camera or my computer and I don’t intend to start renting software. This is going to be an epic fail Adobe. See you in a couple of years when your revenue has plummeted and you go back to perpetual licences.

By Dian Medit - 7:23 AM on May 7, 2013

Dear Adobe Managers,

Definetily the Adobe CC system will be to expensive. The last money that Adobe got from me was for the Graphics Suite CS6.
You seem to live already in the cloud because you lost all sens of reality. The most part of your customers are not only professionnals earning very much money with their designs but normal people who occasionnaly use CS6.
After all CS6 is sufficient for me for the rest of my life. Instead of Camera Raw I will use as raw update dxo optics pro for new photo gear. And than there is Corel Draw. Welcome. That’s their unique occasion to make it less buggy in order to attract Adobe customers on the leave.
But I’m sure when you come back from the cloud, because adobe will earn less money, you will quickly come back to the old buy and own system. And for my files I don’t trust the cloud. All my backups are on no expensive harddisks separeted from the Web.

So Bye bye Adobe managers, I wish you a soft coming back to reality after the cloud hype has vanished

If it is just a hobby, and just still photos or videos. I just looked into a few options. It looks like there are several vendors that will cater to us.
I will love to see the next company in line. I bet these small company’s are drooling. I bet money will be pored into research and development. I could care less as a stills photographer of wildlife. But, am on pins and needles to see who emerges in the next few years as the challenger to PS…. This is cool.
These guys have just given a license for investors to invest in the competition big time….. Wow.

By Pascal Bieren - 7:39 AM on May 7, 2013

I always wondered why we in the EU had to pay twice as much then our friends in the US with the master suites. Now we get forced into the cloud and still and strangely we still have to pay twice the amount for the same programs. I’ve be a happy costumer, because I like and I need the products, but I don’t like to pay more then my American friends. For me as a master suite user and with a small artist studio it is a back-draw financially. I have to pay more. It makes me feel uneasy.

By Sol Fried - 7:43 AM on May 7, 2013

I hope Adobe adjusts this plan.

Personally, I believe the general cloud idea is fine, though others clearly disagree. Where this plan fails, and the reason I will not join CC is that I am forced to invest in CC into eternity even after I retire and just want to visit my old files.

For example, if I become a member and begin using Photoshop for my pictures and then lose interest in the hobby, or lose my job, etc…, I now will have no way to open my own files that accumulated over the years without continuing to pay monthly fees to Adobe.

There needs to be a way to grant perpetual ownership to a specific version once that version had been licensed for a specified duration (18 months??).

I, for one, will stay with my CS6 Production Premium until this issue is resolved or until, my camera’s RAW format is no longer supported by CS6 at which time I will, sadly, switch to a competitor.

Please reconsider….

By uhane - 6:19 PM on May 7, 2013

You can use on one’s perfect photo suite for all the same files and it will update the RAW settings for new camera models etc. I use it for lots of occations and it’s a great little stand alone or you can use it as a PS plugin. adobe will either keep up or loose the gamble.

By Jim McCrain - 7:50 AM on May 7, 2013

I use PS, Premiere, and Dreamweaver. OCCASIONALLY! I do NOT use them everyday. And when I DO use them, I am not making much, if any, money. If I need to design a new website for one of my non-profit groups, I will have to spend $50 a month (for a couple of months) just to create the site, and then do that again each time they need an update to the site. I have just lost any and all profits I would have made. That is not going to happen.

I feel the move to Aperture, Coda, and FinalCut coming on, even though I prefer Adobe products.

I’ve been using PS since version 4. I was happy to upgrade every other iteration but this new subscription model makes having access to your products more expensive to me. I’m retired and photography is a hobby there’s no way I’m allowing Adobe to hook up a cannula to my bank account and bleed it dry. Although you’ve stated at the present that this does not apply to amateur based software such as Lightroom or Elements it is only a matter of time before you change them over as well. Thankfully today I’ve found a couple of alternatives that will enable me to use my existing plugins and the change in workflow won’t be too drastic.

By Simon Gisler - 8:05 AM on May 7, 2013

Hi guys!
In Switzerland we’ll pay 60 Dollars for the full package per month and 25 Dollars for one programm…that’s a really nice pricing by Adobe.
Bye Photoshop and Co.

I can’t say it anymore clearly than this: Adobe has lost their mind. This will be the end of the company. I do not know any professional or amateur photographer who will abide by this monthly subscription service crap; I certainly won’t and neither will my aunt who is a professional. This constitutes a price rise, and another evidence that Adobe higher-ups are out of touch with the customers who use the software. Adobe’s competition are salivating right now because they are about to see a HUUUUGGGEEE increase in their customer base. To use a joke from my childhood: smart move Adobe – NOT!

[…] waves” today. I’m not sure how I feel about it. I’ve read up on their blog and there seems to be all sorts of opinions from the pros and other users. This is all happening at […]

By Marcos - 10:38 AM on May 7, 2013

I will stick with CS6 as long as I can. Leasing software really rubs me the wrong way; it emotionally makes me feel like I’m wasting my money if I don’t use the leased product as often as possible — photography is a hobby that I can go for months without having time to work on due to my job and other life issues. Sure, if I ran a business, if the leasing option saves me money, great.

It’ll be interesting to see how new camera RAW formats are handled moving forward. Will I have to download the latest free DNG converter and import images that way? How long will the free DNG converter support newer camera RAW formats on older versions of PS?

Also, the perceived benefits of forcing everyone into a subscription model makes me skeptical as well: Any guarantees on how often updates and bug fixes will be released? How well with builds be tested for stability? Will we be able to easily rollback?

I cringe thinking about what updating 1000+ Windows 7 with Windows 2013 computers at work is like. I wonder how many additional build cycles we’d actually be seeing.

By James Hannum - 11:15 AM on May 7, 2013

It appears, based upon our upgrade costs in the past the cost for using the programs that we used to be able to get from Creative Suite Design Standard will increase by as much as 50%.

As a home hobbyist user, this significant annual cost increase will result in my no longer purchasing Adobe software. Plus, as a home user, I did not have to upgrade every year, so my cost to use the software will be going up even more.

At work, we will have to evaluate whether the increased cost is actually worth it. We have used InDesign since version 1 and have regularly upgraded. When the Creative Suite became available we upgraded to it because the addition of Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat were worth the increased cost. If we needed the additional programs in the other suites, then we would have determined if the Master Suite was cost effective for us. But we are now being forced to pay the price for the Master Suite just to get the programs that we use. And the price that we are paying will be increasing.

I do not know how the evaluation will come out, but there is a good chance that not only will Adobe be loosing me personally as a customer, but also the company that I work for.

And please don’t give a response that it is only $360 per year. An “upgrade” is $360 the first year and $600 per year after that (until the price is raised. And when you decide that you can no longer afford the price, you can no longer access your files.

By sherry - 11:51 AM on May 7, 2013

I have purchased Adobe products for years now, however, I will not switch over to a monthly fee. If I pay $50 a month, that is $600 a year. I can’t and won’t pay $600 a year for the cloud. I will be looking else where for software for my business. This is just greed!

By cas - 12:12 PM on May 7, 2013

What it all has to do with a cloud ??? We get the web installer and some space in the cloud and we have to pay a subscription fee monthly. The apps will be installed locally as before. And the story about up-to-date Apps. I have to install them locally as I install the updates now. What is the difference. The name and subscription control.

If you really are giving away your genuine Photoshop keys, I would love to have one. Which version do you have? Do you have CS6 for Windows?
You can reach me at
mary.brown ‘at’ xplornet.com.
Thank you.

By Mary - 9:10 PM on May 13, 2013

I meant to add, please use the word Photoshop in the subject line so I will recognize the email as not spam.
Thanks
Mary

By Peter Parker - 10:45 PM on May 14, 2013

It’d be awesome having Creative Suite back again…

By Harry George - 1:04 PM on May 16, 2013

Don’t suppose you still have a serial number left?
oldbillgoggles at googlemail.com

I am an amateur hobby photographer. Software purchase comes out of my disposable income which all too often is in short supply. I have bought Photoshop and upgraded, albeit not every release, since PS 3. Signing up for a monthly commitment is something I am not at all willing to do. If this CC turns out to be the only way to use Photoshop going forward, I will have to join the ranks of those looking for an alternative.

I’ve just spent a futile evening trying to buy an upgrade to Photoshop CS6. Your web sites are very confusing so I’m not certain of my facts but it appears you don’t sell CS6 and that CS5 is the latest version for sale. (I have that) Is that the case? If so I’ll quit trying.
(I know you rent out CS6 but I would not consider that an option.)
Thank you
nigel

By Wallace - 1:41 AM on May 8, 2013

Epic fail.

Somebody at Adobe is gonna get fired for this bonehead idea.

And most deservedly so.

Always stick to the old saying: If it ain’t broke – don’t fix it.

Absolutely moronic.

By Becky - 3:18 AM on May 8, 2013

Creative Cloud only uses the most recent version which is cs6 right now . But actions Created in a lower version do not run in cs6. And you have to sign a contract much like a cell phone., if you cancel the contract before your subscription is up you have to pay either 30% or 50%( I forget which) of whatever you would have owed for the remaining part of your subscription. With today’s economy you never know if you will have a job tomorrow to pay for groceries much less CC.

I had it and found that I was using my older version more so I cancelled within the first 30 days and got a refund.

If it was more affordable and did not have a contract it might be more attractive.

I have skipped versions of CS since most of the added features haven’t been needed for my work. I’ve owned CS2, CS4, and currently CS6. I know many other photographers who have developed the same routine of skipping editions. Since 2005, I have spent $1100 on photoshop (full version + 2 updates). With the creative cloud over the same period of time, I would have spent $1800.

I see PS a bit like a car. I don’t have a need to get a new car every year, so I wait untilI actually “need” that new car.

Now let’s say I went to the car dealer, and find a car I’m interested in. I then have an option, I can either buy the car for $35,000 cash, or lease it for 8 years at a total cost of $57,000. If I choose to lease the car for nearly double the amount, I walk away with nothing at the end. Can you see how this is a problem?

One of the biggest benefits for Adobe is that they will now have a substantial revenue stream. That’s great and I’m all for supporting the developers of great software, but it comes at a big expense for the customer. For what we give up as customers — forever locked into the subscription model with no software at the end, and often times at a much greater cost — we don’t get anything significant in return. There needs to be some give and take in this relationship… at this point all I see is take.

This is one of the many reasons why there reaction to the CC hasn’t been well received. The price model reflects those who have updated to every version, but I’m sure if you did some focus groups you would see that many people skip updates because the latest features aren’t necessary for the average user — and the CC serves only to punish those who have been loyal all these years. We pay much more, and walk away with nothing at the end.

If you guys are intent to go ahead with this as planned, you are going to lose a lot of customers. I plan on sitting on CS6 for as long as I can, and maybe by then there will be other options on the market. Some leeway needs to be given to those like myself who routinely skip editions. Perhaps there is a second tier of the CC that doesn’t receive updates as frequently at a lesser price point. You guys are creative — crunch the numbers and come up with something.

If you would like to hear more feedback, feel free to contact me directly.

By Nick B - 10:53 PM on May 8, 2013

Why do we have to rent the service? I want to own what i pay for… Also what good are the services to someone like me who just uses Photoshop for hobby purposes. There is no reason for me to save my pictures to the cloud or use any other service your charging me for that are cloud based. What benifit am i getting out of a service i dont want please enlighten me. Yes its cool if i was like doing this for a business but im not. I want Photoshop and lightroom period the end nothing else no cloud storage no other BS. If i wanted a service like cloud storage i would buy that service. Now im being forced into a contract and forced to pay for a service I neither want nor will use? Not everyone who uses Photoshop is a professional as hard as that may be for you guys to believe….

Not only that you are increasing my cost by 10 fold. I only need to update Photoshop every two or three versions like i said im just a casual user I dont need every last fancy tool. But now you have alienated every last customer who cannot afford this rediculous monthly fee which btw is not 9.99 the real price is 19.99 we all know what an introductory price means were not stupid. Not only that but you are charging me more in a year than i ever pay for a single upgrade. Upgrades are usually like 200 and im now paying 240 a year? And dont sit there and lie to me and tell me i can use CS6 the rest of my life you know eventually i would either have to upgrade or go to another company CS6 will not be a viable option forever. im sick of seeing that excuses on the forum when its obviously not an answer or a solution to our problems. Your just telling us to stick duck tape on the leak of our sinking ship and hope for the best…. And since i use more than one program your going to charge me $600 dollars a year for lightroom and photoshop!!! for what!?!?!? A product you will never let me own. Oh wait thats right your also charging me for 10 other programs i never use nor want…

your purchasing options are totally off base its either one App or you have to buy all Apps…. you have no in between options. Like seriously what genius is running the show around there…… ive never been so upset with a product in my life and have never been so upset as to go and complain about it. I LOVE PHOTOSHOP AND LIGHTROOM and you are absolutely running it and my opinion of it into the ground..

I’m sorry, as a Photoshop user since version 2.5, this is a HUGE slap in the face and screw you to many people, especially photographers, but also designers. This ties you into a never ending round of “upgrade”. As a photographer, I use Photoshop regularly. I also use InDesign and Illustrator, but nowhere nearly as frequently. Meanwhile, my wife is a graphic designer. Her primary tool is InDesign, and to lesser degree, Illustrator and Photoshop. For both of us, this forces us into ungrading ALL Adobe programs, regardless of use and priority, if if we don’t renders what we have inoperable. NOT a good business model. This forces us all into the upgrade treadmill and “renting” our software forever. I guess this is what come from lack of competition or standardizing on one series of software.

By JC Blanchard - 10:28 AM on May 9, 2013

This is really bad. Let’s say I subscribe at $50 a month for five years = $3000.00.
If I cancel my subscription (or for some reason cannot afford it anymore), I have nothing left to work with, nothing left to show for my $3000.

This is not right. I have Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 4 and will keep using those as long as I can. This is a way to make us pay endlessly for things we don’t need. I will never rent software. I’ll switch to other software if I have to.

By Tim Flannery - 11:33 AM on May 9, 2013

Truth is Jeff Tranberry works for the marketing department, as does every Adobe employee. He is in the position of supporting and enabling a policy I doubt he privately likes. Tortured logic coming out of the evangelists simply discredits the hucksters.

Trying to convince customers, long time customers who have spent thousands, while tolerating Adobe slow to non existent fixes, lack of honesty in describing publicly known bugs (sluggish Lightroom, eg), and quickly fixing them without workarounds, left many of us negatively disposed towards Adobe already. I guess Adobe just wishes to push out all but other corporations, which act with equal arrogance and recognize the greed motive – greed is good.

The CC is a clever idea for marketers, salesman, huckster-evangelists, and those who gain bonuses from stock valuation rises. There was clearly no consideration given to creative people, to what might serve Adobe’s reputation in the long run. The idea that an already purchased product does not receive enhancements while the same product in CC does reflects the disdain Adobe has for those who use their products.

I’ll stick with CS6 which is my principal use of Creative Suite 6, will see how well Scribus works, there is always Pages, BBedit or Rapidweaver are fine, Acorn and Pixelmator will be getting better and better. There are other SVG apps. No more Adobe purchases for me, unless the crew who run things are run out of Adobe and creative people start running the shop. Apple has Jonny Ive, Adobe has some Stepford marketer.

Now we’ll likely see half step backs from the most egregious policies. A wave off – oh they’ll get used to it. Adobe should have been taking care of its reputation all these years. Adobe’s customer base is poised to jump ship and is now being provided robust incentive by a clueless company.

By W. Boswell - 1:29 PM on May 9, 2013

I had a feeling that CS6 was my last version when I heard rumblings in the Adobe forums about perpetual licenses disappearing. I just upgraded Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Audition, and Dreamweaver to CS6. I also upgraded Adobe Acrobat to XI and I hope it isn’t also going the way of the Cloud.

I don’t intend on wasting money every month for a CC subscription since I don’t profit from the software. It takes me a while to upgrade their software because I’m on a limited budget so I can’t always upgrade every time.

What a joke. Like a couple of others who commented, I have used Elements for years and finally got the money and the nerve to purchased Photoshop. My awe for Adobe is totally gone. Completely. Zap. I’m off to start googling for “software similar to Photoshop NOT by Adobe”

By Robert - 8:46 PM on May 9, 2013

This is a move Adobe is making because they were unable to provide meaningful upgrades that compelled a lot of users to upgrade to every new version. What is shocking to me is instead of creating a new source of revenue by adding a subscription model they are just taking a chance that a subscription only model will have a larger revenue than having a perpetual and subscription model. The mixed license model is what most software makers have or are moving to. Not going subscription only.
What makes Adobe’s move shocking is that in 2012 Adobe’s subscription licensing only accounted for 15% of their total revenue according to Adobe’s 10-K SEC filings.

Iàm a professionell fotograf an I think that the idea that I can only use the software from adobe via cloud is extreme ….. “not good”

By Udo Holzmann - 2:21 AM on May 11, 2013

Ladies and gentlemen, for many years I use the Production Premium suite. I am appalled that they offer their software only to rent. If the lease expires I have no way to open my projects. It would be nice if they continue to offer their software to buy. or if you after the rent has the option to purchase the program permanently. I hope they revise the model yet. I would be very unwilling to switch to other programs because I appreciate their programs and would like to pay in the future for updates. But not for rent.

Greeting
Udo Holzmann

By Lanthus Clark - 5:41 AM on May 11, 2013

I was looking into buying Photoshop CS6, but this has me stymied. I guess it will have to be a competitor where I can actually own the software and not be on a constant lease system. Damn, how frustrating.

Adobe, what have you been smoking? When I heard CS was now only going to be available through CC, I though that cant be right. You are alienating you customers, who are happy the way things are. And we aren’t stupid, its not because you want to crank products out at a faster pace, its because you want to squeeze more money out of us monthly and have us locked into your CC service. I like many other will be looking into other options. I remember when Coca Cola decided to change its recipe, worked out well for them didn’t it? Everyone drank pepsi, then the ceo was fired, then they eventually switched back. Sad day for me.

By Gerry - 1:34 PM on May 12, 2013

Let’s stand together as ONE……and let Adobe know…..they cannot bully us into CC….

Maria, You CERTAINLY do have the correct last name (Yap)..That is ALL you know how to do.

You should put some effort into your customer service branch. Have you ever tried to use it? It is like ‘Peggy’ on that bank commercial on the TV, where all you get is PASSED AROUND TO THE NEXT REP until you finally reach the first one again. I had it happen to me. CUSTOMER SERVICE does not exist with Photoshop.

Many of your responses mention…CONFUSION…that term does not even begin to cover it…….and I am a Professor in tech. with a PH.D.

Let’s avoid personal attacks and name calling as part of the conversation, please.

I looked up your case information and don’t see any contacts since 2010. If there’s a particular support case # you’d like me to review, I’d be happy to review it with our support management.

Regards,

– Jeff

By Timothy Reynolds - 8:13 PM on May 13, 2013

Adobe, you have lost a customer before you even had him. Here’s why. I’ve been looking to purchase Photoshop so I can work on my drawing skills. I’m not a professional, I’m teaching myself, I’m freelance and a deviant artist so I don’t draw as often as I’d like to. Therefore, I will NOT allow a company to force me to rent a service that I might only use a few times a month.

You might could have drawn me into this in the past, but as a Financial Peace University graduate and loyal Dave Ramsey listener and student, I won’t fall for it. If you stay with Cloud, and this current new payment method, I guarantee you won’t be in business in the next 5 years. I work a minimum wage job, I’ve worked hard for my money and you WILL NOT take it away from me. I won’t go into debt by using your service. I’ll occasionally rent a movie, I’ll go to a movie theater to see a movie, but I WON’T RENT A COMPUTER PROGRAM THAT I WANT TO KEEP.

I’ve never had a car payment and have had two cars, one that I have now is a hybrid. I’m also working towards NEVER having a house payment and I only took out 1 student loan ever for 1100. I won’t lease a car, I won’t lease a computer program, I won’t lease furniture, a computer or anything.

Remember ADOBE, you’re not in charge, the consumer is. You’d better keep that in mind. So, the message is simple continue to GIVE us the opportunity to buy the product, or, you can stick with CLOUD, and go out of business.

As God’s word says “The borrower, is SLAVE to the Lender.”

“DEBT is DUMB, CASH is KING”- Dave Ramsey

By Timothy Reynolds - 11:47 AM on May 15, 2013

I’m quite surprised that you guys didn’t reply to my comment here. Perhaps it’s a good thing since you’ve realized that I’ve made a valid point and that there is nothing you can do to refute it. However, at the same time I would like to see your answer to these thoughts nonetheless.

I am very unhappy about this, and do not consider it a good deal at all. The requirement to pay a monthly fee till the day I die is something I consider abhorrent. I don’t like the feeling of being a fish on a hook. I don’t like it at all.

Eventually, a viable alternative to your product will be developed and offered in a way that leaves me free to choose how to purchase and use it. Pixelmator, perhaps, or something else that I haven’t heard of yet. I will then no doubt switch to that product in order to free myself from the shackles you’re putting on me (mixing metaphors, but you get the idea).

Or you could continue to offer the Creative Cloud as an option, but also let us buy the box every couple of years. Then people like me will not be so angry.

For the record, I have never worked with a pirated copy of photoshop or any other creative cloud product. I have always purchased it and registered it properly. I have also never been anything but pleased with my purchase. I have also long been an admirer of your company.

But I really have to tell you that this has left a very sour taste in my mouth.

Please go back to the two-stream model.

By Alejandro - 6:58 PM on May 14, 2013

necesito el photoshop para editar mis imagenes ami pagina

By Pedro - 12:10 PM on May 15, 2013

Oh, shoot!

Either I have no idea what Adobe is trying to push on us because I’m new with Photoshop (which I’m not. I’ve been a PS user for 8 years now), or Adobe is screwing their business model.

Is the CEO of Netflix on Adobe’s Board of Directors? Because all this “we know better than you what you need” routine doesn’t make sense. Is Adobe quitting? Too much money already made? Why don’t you just re-embrace the 8-tracks and the analog cell phones while you’re at it.

Time to start considering other photo editing and management tools. My very founded fear is that Adobe will pull an Instagram propietary mumbo-jumbo on us users….

I don’t trust the clouds and I’ll will not chain my self on monthly DEBT, sorry Adobe but I don’t buy it, I rather to wait 2 year for my owned next version.

By Steve Hinds - 6:40 AM on May 18, 2013

First, while it is stated Lightroom will remained a boxed product, the hand writing is on the wall, it will not be forever.

Second; while you state CS6 will remain available for download and security and bug fixes will be made; the question is, will Adobe really assure compatibility with future windows versions. My suspicion is a time will come when the decision will have to be made to move to the “so-called Cloud” or not upgrade windows to the next version. The point is there is almost surely a limit to the usefulness of CS6 down the road.

Third: While Adobe has stated they will find a way to accommodate business users with perhaps security and other issues, that still leaves the common user who may not have his or her own issues. For instance, Adobe seems to forget that adequate Internet is not available everywhere, some are lucky to have dialup service in many rural areas. Yes there is a move to get connections to those areas, but we are not there yet. The point is, think about how long a download will take at dialup speeds.

Four. Photoshop CC is essentially Photoshop extended, a product Photographers do not need. For a true cost analysis for Photographers we must use the upgrade cost of Photoshop; not Photoshop extended; most comparisons I have seen ignores this fact. Some have ignored that most users upgrade every other cycle so 36 months of costs of the cloud needs used.

Five: Last but spells out the real need for a Photographer only solution which would seem to be adding features to Lightroom or giving Elements everything, not just most of what is found in Photoshop Standard.

six: I have seen claims about how secure their Cloud is, but they say little about what they will do if there is a breach and face it, there is almost sure to be one. Data security is now the number 1 cloud issue.

seven; Adobe I want facts, not market hype. I want to see a real solution for Photographers, not a push toward a product with more than I need and everything a designer needs.

The message to me is Adobe does not care about the common user; I totally get this about a steady income stream and maybe even the future of Adobe; however, real security issues exist with the cloud, people in rural America often have no or inadequate internet, and it would not be rocket science to have a cut version of Photoshop CC directed at Photographers nor would it be rocket science to add features to Lightroom of Elements to make one or both a true Photography solution. There are alternatives with nearly every feature Photoshop has to offer, perhaps slower and perhaps with other issues, but still rapidly improving version to version.

“Waiting 18 to 24 months to catch up isn’t acceptable for any of our customers.”
WRONG – this timescale is acceptable to me therefore your statement is incorrect, much like your current base philosophy.

Writing as a 20+ year professional graphic design Adobe customer and looking forward to working part-time in retirement I find this brazen attempt to profiteer and lock in a customer morally reprehensible, socially unethical, and economically blinkered.

It is born of an arrogance and short-term view that ‘the web’ is the future.

To [badly] paraphrase a comment from a recent National Geographic article about the Sioux of South Dakota: “we were here before electricity came, we will be here after it goes, so it makes sense to maintain our traditional skills and culture”

Now that is class, that shows an insight into the Universal Truth – Adobe you had class, but you are displaying no class right now, and like everything that lacks insight, your time will come to pass.

[…] year of major change in our feature deployment process, moving from 24-month cycles of the past to delivering innovation to customers as soon as it’s ready, throughout the […]

By dector bond - 5:33 AM on June 26, 2013

Sorry – have to get this off my chest first … it should be ‘Breaking with tradition’ not ‘from’

I’m hoping that in time you will bend on your subscription model. As you say, you used to update PS every 18 months to 2 years. Lets pick some really rough figures here to make my point – whether or not they are exactly on the nail or not doesn’t matter much.

So, I have bought CS6 for about £500 – from this point forward under the old system, over the next 5 years I would pay an upgrade fee say on two or three occasions and that upgrade would cost about £300 each time – viz a budget over the next five years of between £600 and £900.

Currently I understand that the monthly payment for CC will be in the region of £25 – £30 a month for UK subscribers.
Over five years that will cost between £1500 and £1800.

Notwithstanding your initial reduced cost for the first year, this is a DOUBLING of the cost.

First, while it is stated Lightroom will remained a boxed product, the hand writing is on the wall, it will not be forever.
Second; while you state CS6 will remain available for download and security and bug fixes will be made; the question is, will Adobe really assure compatibility with future windows versions. My suspicion is a time will come when the decision will have to be made to move to the “so-called Cloud” or not upgrade windows to the next version. The point is there is almost surely a limit to the usefulness of CS6 down the road.
Third: While Adobe has stated they will find a way to accommodate business users with perhaps security and other issues, that still leaves the common user who may not have his or her own issues. For instance, Adobe seems to forget that adequate Internet is not available everywhere, some are lucky to have dialup service in many rural areas. Yes there is a move to get connections to those areas, but we are not there yet. The point is, think about how long a download will take at dialup speeds.